Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132. Space Sword
"Huff, huff……"
Dam Jeok-san gasped for breath with an utterly exhausted expression.
A body so precarious it seemed it would collapse at any moment, blood flowing down from everywhere and endless wounds burning with pain.
Even his Internal energy, which had boasted tremendous Efficiency after being compressed once, had been consumed by more than half.
Conserving Internal energy while fighting had been impossible from the start. Each time Un Wol-hyang unleashed a slash, his life had flickered on the brink.
'If I had conserved Internal energy thinking I would endure for a full double hour, my head would have already fallen.'
Well, as the price for that, he had drawn out half his Internal energy in just one tea-time, but in any case, was he not still alive?
Dam Jeok-san exhaled a sigh and re-gripped his swords.
Immediately after, a storm inevitably surged from Un Wol-hyang's sword.
A fierce storm that could never be blocked at the Ultra-Peak level.
Perhaps if his Internal energy had been full, but fighting head-on against that sword momentum now would be foolish.
'Give up what must be given up.'
If he tried to handle everything without losing anything by the book, he would instead lose everything.
Dam Jeok-san boldly leaped into the sword momentum with the thought that it was fine if one arm got severed.
CRAAAAAACK!
Sword momentum surging like a storm. He wildly swung his twin swords and met it.
No, at a glance it seemed wild, but every single Fighting Path he extended held the profound principles of Ascending Synergy.
The edge of Ultra-Peak. He had now reached a realm where proper profundity dwelled even in sword strikes extended roughly.
However, despite that, wounds continued to multiply on Dam Jeok-san's body.
This was because a fundamentally enormous gap existed between Northern Heaven Sword Venerable's sword and his own.
The method to endure while facing that gap. The method to drag out time even if it meant death. The Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander had to know that method.
What Dam Jeok-san chose was to leap into the heart of the sword momentum while accepting the threat of injury.
Once he leaped into the center of the sword momentum, things that were invisible from outside began to become visible.
How the sword qi intertwined to create a single wind current. And how those wind currents combined to transform into a storm.
And if he could see that,
'I can also break through it!'
By destroying one strand of sword qi, he could block the storm. Even so, rather than truly ing the martial art, it was merely a method to postpone death.
But—
'That is enough.'
CRACK!
Dam Jeok-san's sword tore through one strand of sword qi.
Just from that, congested blood seemed to surge up from within, but Dam Jeok-san did not care at all. Because this was pain he could sufficiently endure.
He did not even stop there. The moment his blade flashed, one more strand of sword qi on the opposite side was severed.
Merely two strands. Despite the fact that only thread-like thin sword qi had been severed.
WHOOOOSH!
The momentum of the storm Un Wol-hyang had unleashed subsided considerably.
Dam Jeok-san endured in this manner and endured again.
But one double hour was a far longer time than he had thought.
In some moments, he found solutions and weakened attacks.
In other moments, he recklessly charged in.
In yet other moments, he fled desperately.
Those moments accumulated.
There were times when he met fire with fire with the resolve of certain death, and times when he performed Lazy Donkey Rolling after setting down all pride as a martial artist.
But Dam Jeok-san's ploys did not work forever.
WHOOSH!
Un Wol-hyang's kick exploded toward Dam Jeok-san's chest.
"Monster Repelling Squad Leader, when did I say I only use a sword?"
Un Wol-hyang smirked coldly and mocked Dam Jeok-san.
At the same time.
Strength entered the sole of her foot clad in rough leather shoes.
THWAAAACK!!
A refreshing impact sound immediately followed.
Dam Jeok-san belatedly raised Body Protection qi infused with Repelling force, but his body flew toward the corner of the training hall like a kite with its string cut.
'This insane……!'
Even though he had thrown his body backward the moment he was hit to minimize the impact, the pain was tremendous.
At a glance, it felt like several ribs might have gone.
Even while flying, Dam Jeok-san spat out the blood pooled in his mouth and extended both hands gripping his swords toward the ground.
SCREEEEECH— With an unpleasant noise, the sword blades scraped both sides of the training hall floor.
At the same time, his flying speed subsided somewhat.
If he had not done this much, he would have died crashed into the corner of the training hall. To his senses, Un Wol-hyang's kick had been that powerful.
And that was why Dam Jeok-san could survive.
'It was not a Killing Move.'
A Leg Technique launched carelessly, as if it was fine whether it hit or not.
If Un Wol-hyang had kicked him with clear killing intent, rather than flying backward, his heart would have been pierced through and he would have died on the spot.
Of course, that was never going to happen. Just before being hit by the kick, Dam Jeok-san had barely blocked Un Wol-hyang's sword strike imbued with thick Killing Intent.
So when he let his guard down, it was a kick that flew in suddenly, which was why he could neither block nor evade it.
"Excellent."
Watching Dam Jeok-san barely stand up with his sword embedded in the training hall floor, Un Wol-hyang uttered words of praise.
"……?"
Dam Jeok-san tilted his head as if confused by this.
"If you have decided to endure, you must fight that way. You must evade even attacks that seem impossible to evade, and block even attacks that seem impossible to block."
Even so, blind spots remain. Like this kick.
But the fact that it was a blind spot for Dam Jeok-san meant Un Wol-hyang also had not used her full strength.
What Dam Jeok-san could receive with his body was only attacks of that level.
So one who endures must do everything possible and leave the rest to fortune.
"……How insulting."
Dam Jeok-san spoke while grinding his molars.
No matter how unbridgeable the gap between her and himself, did it have to be to the extent of leaving the outcome to fortune?
He knew.
In fact, even this was the result of Un Wol-hyang being quite considerate of him.
If she had used her full strength to invoke Will as soon as the test started, Dam Jeok-san would be a corpse by now.
"Half a double hour."
Un Wol-hyang extended one finger while looking at her Martial Nephew growling at her.
"Exactly half a double hour remains. If you think my words are insulting, prove it. Within that time."
Do not merely endure, prove yourself. If you wish.
Dam Jeok-san let out a hollow laugh at those words.
Enduring was already hard, so how could he prove anything more?
But the Sword Venerable's words had no wrong aspect.
When he was already struggling just to endure, he had no right to talk about insults or anything else.
But Dam Jeok-san knew.
Sometimes it was better to fight to prove oneself rather than merely endure.
The passion burning for proof could become a torch to reverse even a situation where enduring was difficult.
'Right, I should at least land one strike.'
The Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander was the sword representing Martial Sovereign Castle.
Such a sword could not remain helpless and merely take hits.
Even if the opponent was not Northern Heaven Sword Venerable but the Sword Emperor.
'Red White Extreme Smoke Slash will not work.'
Red White Extreme Smoke Slash was certainly the move among Dam Jeok-san's ultimate techniques with the highest completeness and destructive power.
But it was not an appropriate technique to use now.
'Martial Aunt has seen Red White Extreme Smoke Slash before.'
She was a Sword Venerable. A grandmaster of the sword counted among the top ten fingers in the world.
Against such a person, planning to strike a gap using a technique already shown once? That was excessive arrogance.
He had to use Space Sword. It was an incomplete supreme art, and a technique not permitted to Dam Jeok-san.
But precisely because of that, it was a technique with sufficient destructive power.
'The problem is I do not have Master's help.'
He could not actually cut space with his sword. Then he had to at least imitate the form and pattern.
'If that alone is possible, it will have greater destructive power than any technique I possess.'
The problem was stability. If done wrong, he might not withstand the sword force and be repelled instead.
But Dam Jeok-san decided not to worry about such danger. Since he was already making a gamble-like move with a lower probability of success anyway.
Un Wol-hyang's sword strikes poured down like a torrential rain once again.
Sword momentum that had become stronger than before. Dam Jeok-san was already feeling his Internal energy hitting bottom.
Once the rhythm he had adapted to was broken, the consumption of Internal energy and mental strength became even more extreme.
To the extent it seemed this kind of war of attrition had been intended from the start.
'Damn it.'
Indeed, the judgment to throw a decisive move had been correct. If he had not done so, he probably would have wavered in confusion and collapsed before another tea-time passed.
Dam Jeok-san realized anew.
Northern Heaven Sword Venerable had been sincere about this test from beginning to end.
Separate from caring for him.
Probably, in whatever manner he passed this test, he would gain the qualification of Northern Wind Sword Corps Commander. Because this was a test designed that way.
Dam Jeok-san advanced one step at a time through the terrible sword momentum. Painfully, as if breaking through a snowstorm in the dead of winter with his bare body.
But his mind was filled with thoughts about the move that would reverse this situation.
'Space Sword is a divine technique that forges slashes from space itself.'
A transcendent like the Sword Emperor, who was the Righteous Heaven Alliance Leader, might fill all visible places with slashes, but it was impossible for Dam Jeok-san.
The space he could cut was at most where his limbs could reach.
So before executing Space Sword, he had to approach Un Wol-hyang. At least to the distance where blades directly reached.
It would be extremely difficult if Un Wol-hyang did not permit the distance, but she was not particularly refusing Dam Jeok-san's approach.
Neither of them was a martial artist who had deeply learned close-quarters combat techniques. Getting close did not make things particularly disadvantageous.
Thus Dam Jeok-san approached Un Wol-hyang and approached again.
And the closer he got to her, the stronger the pressure of the sword became.
When he arrived at the distance where sword and sword directly met, merely standing consumed Internal energy extremely.
Even more.
"Oh, the Monster Repelling Squad Leader wanted to cross swords with me?"
Un Wol-hyang smiled warmly and.
FLASH!
Began to press down on Dam Jeok-san's twin swords with her own sword.
While facing sword strikes that flashed without trace or precursor, Dam Jeok-san endlessly recalled.
The moment he had deployed Space Sword.
A dramatic reenactment like that time would be impossible.
But he could do it. If it was just copying the form and pattern.
The movements and Internal energy circulation paths needed to deploy that form and pattern were already engraved in his mind.
'I cannot create an opening against Martial Aunt anyway.'
He just had to maintain the breathing.
No matter how the opponent pressed in, Dam Jeok-san himself had to maintain the breathing of one and a half beats he had resolved upon.
Then he could deploy Space Sword. Even if degraded.
Dam Jeok-san saw Un Wol-hyang's sword pressing into his immediate front.
If he did not evade, he would die.
Naturally, as if that had been the plan all along, he shifted one small step to the side.
And at the same time.
FLASH!
His sword began to emit intense sword light. As if evading and cutting were one breath together.
'Up to here is half a pattern.'
Now only one beat remained.
Dam Jeok-san swallowed nervously and extended his sword.
And space was cleft.